Productivity Commission Inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts and Craft

Australians value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and creative practices, view them as the foundation of national identity and expect them to be prioritised by governments, investors, policy and business leaders.

The need to prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and creative practice through a National Cultural Plan

A New Approach (ANA) is Australia’s leading arts and culture think tank, with a vision for an Australia that celebrates, benefits from, and invests in arts, culture and creativity for the benefit of all Australians.

This submission outlines evidence for prioritising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and creative practices in the development of cohesive public policy settings, including a National Cultural Plan. It draws from ANA’s qualitative research as well as a review of national and international evidence.

The Issue

As the arts and cultural sector recovers from Covid-19, it is critical to explore the issues in Australia’s visual arts and crafts market and examine the value, nature and structure of the markets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual arts and crafts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual arts and crafts are of global cultural significance and an important part of Australia’s shared identity.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, art is a way to share stories and spiritual beliefs to future generations. It also generates income for artists and creates economic opportunities for communities.

However, Covid-19 is rapidly accelerating changes within the arts and cultural sector in Australia and there is a need to ensure that First Nations artists can anticipate and respond to these changes and take advantage of the opportunities they bring.

A National Solution

Ensure the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are considered and included through opportunities to co-design a National Cultural Plan to support industry recovery, participation, employment and innovation for the benefit of all First Nations people.

At a Policy Leaders roundtable held by ANA in 2021, all participants including First Nations participants acknowledged the need to ensure that arts and cultural opportunities are created and produced in every place, in every part of Australia and that a National Plan that supports this would allow both domestic and international audiences to experience the breadth of creativity that would come from people in regional, rural and remote areas having access to the same opportunities as those in urban areas.

Policy Leaders also suggested that a National Plan would assist in better focusing efforts to assist the arts and cultural sector, including First Nations artists, to take advantage of the changes accelerated by Covid-19.

At this time, rapid transformation is needed to not just benefit from the Covid-19 recovery but to be deliberate and ambitious. A National Plan would be an effective way to drive this transformation.

ANA understands there will be many specialist submissions to this Inquiry with detailed knowledge of the issues. To support this, ANA has sought to provide useful context around the role and relevance of arts and culture in Australia.

For the full submission, download the PDF.